Notable YA books for 2020

The new edition of my book, What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use is now available on Lulu.com. at https://tinyurl.com/whatsnewya2020 . As we say goodbye to 2020, I would like to recommend several books I didn't review during the calendar year.  Dig by A.S. King, the new Michael Printz Award winner, is a surrealistic story about five unknowingly connected teens, who struggle with family dysfunction. Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam is a novel-in-verse about a black teenage poet in prison for beating a white youth and leaving him in a coma. We Are Not Free, a critically acclaimed novel by Traci Chee, is about 14 Japanese American Teens in internment camps during WWII. Finally, Rebel Spy, a historical novel by Veronica Rossi, is a reimagining of the story of Agent 355, a New York society girl who was a spy for George Washington. 

Dig introduces five estranged cousins, whose dysfunctional family includes wealthy grandparents Marla and Gottfried Hemmings, who have left their 5 children and teenage grandchildren to flounder in various state of illness and poverty.  David-The Shoveler, Katie-CanIHelpYou?, Loretta-Flea Circus Ring Mistress, First-Class Malcom, and the Freak are brought together by tragedy. Trauma and abuse cause the teens to find security in their self-defined roles. David, who frequently moves with his mother, carries a snow shovel to protect himself from bullies, Katie works at Arby's where she deals drugs from the drive-through window.  Loretta finds solace in a family of fleas she carries in a lunchbox, as she struggles with her violent father's abuse.  Malcom takes frequent first-class flights to Jamaica with his widower father, who is batting cancer.  The Freak appears supernaturally between locations, checking in on her cousins and trying to help.  The narrative deals with the issues of racism, white power and privilege and class as the teens' stories are revealed and come together.  Can this generation of Hemmings dig its way out of the toxic environment that their grandparents created?

In Punching the Air sixteen-year-old African American Amal is convicted of violence against a white teen, who is in a coma as a result.  Amal, an aspiring poet and artist is sent to prison, protesting his innocence. In speaking of testimony against him, he says, their words are "like a scalpel/shaping me into/the monster/they want me to be."  While in prison, he experiences the worst of prison life, complete with abuse from guards and fellow prisoners.  Working on his GED, he finds a way to express himself through a poetry class and painting murals on the prison walls. The first-person narration allows the reader to experience his anguish, as he waits for his alleged victim to regain consciousness and hopefully set him free. In an author's note Zoboi details her connection with Salaam, who was a member of the "Central Park Five," now known as the "Exonerated Five."

We Are Not Free chronicles the lives of fourteen young Japanese Americans during WWII in this semi-autobiographical story about the incarceration of families in internment camps.  Teens who have grown up together in San Francisco's Japantown are taken to Topaz Internment Camp in Utah, where they experience harsh conditions and injustices.  When they are forced to enlist and/or swear allegiance to the US, those that refuse, the "no-nos," are taken to Tule Lake Camp.  Between 1942 and 1945 the families that pass a background check are allowed to relocate.  The stories are told in varying styles, including first and second person, verse and letters.  Historical photographs and documents add to the text.

Rebel Spy is the reimagining of the story of a New York society girl, Agent 355, who was a spy for George Washing during the Revolutionary War.  Frannie Tasker, who lives with her abusive stepfather on Grand Bahama Island escapes when a shipwreck presents her with the opportunity to assume the identity of a young woman floating in the sea. She dons the woman's clothes and is rescued by a British merchant ship that heads for New York. She meets Asa Lane,  a dashing young patriot who lends her Thomas Paine's Common Sense and teaches her to act like a lady, before he is press-ganged into His Majesty's navy. When she gets to NYC she poses as Emmeline and is swept into a world of wealth and luxury.  For three years Frannie lives as Emmeline Coates and is courted by a British lieutenant.  Access to some of the crown's highest officers gives her the opportunity to provide valuable information to Washington's Culper spy network. She believes in the fight for American liberty and risks her life to aid the revolutionaries. Part swashbuckling adventure, part romance, this is a riveting read.  

Classic Connections: Pride, Always Never Yours and She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah

Literature and film are filled with classic connections - stories that incorporate elements of the classics but with a twist. Many YA authors are following this time honored tradition of retelling a classic story in a modern setting  or incorporating elements of a classic into a modern tale. Pairing the new novel with the classic material gives students the opportunity to appreciate the clever variations that the modern authors imagine. This month's recommendation are three such novels.  Pride by Idi Zoboi (American Streets) is a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, set in present day Bushwick, New York.  Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and her husband Austin Siegemund-Broka introduces Megan Harper who tries out for a small part in Romeo and Juliet and ends up with the lead. She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah by Ann Hood incorporates the Beatles' history and songs into a novel about a sixth grade girl, who thinks meeting the Beatles at their concert in 1966 will solve all her social problems.

In Pride, Ibi Zoboi sets Jane Austen's classic in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Zuri Benitez, who is of Haitian-Dominican heritage, is worried about gentrification of her diverse community, when the African-American Darcy family moves into a renovated  mansion across the street from her family's apartment building.  Zuri, a poet with ambitions of attending Howard University, clashes with the arrogant Darius Darcy when she meets him, but her sister Janae, a college freshman, is smitten with his brother Ainsley.  The story continues to follow the classic with the Wyckham character, Warren, pursuing Zuri, while talking younger girls including Darius's sister, into taking revealing selfies. The Mr. Collins character is the nephew of the Benitezs' Oshun-worshiping godmother and apartment building owner, who will inherit the building when she dies. When Zuri goes to an open-mic night to share her poetry, she is surprised to meet Darius and his sister there, and the ice between them begins to thaw. Those unfamiliar with Austen's work will still love this classic story of pride in one's community and prejudice through misunderstanding. Encouraging a reading of the original will allow students to appreciate how incredibly clever the author is in adapting the story to a modern day setting and problems.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet provides the backbone for Always Never Yours, with each chapter beginning with a relevant quote from the play. In the novel  high school senior, Megan Harper has dreams of attending a prestigious directing program, but she must have at least one acting credit on her application.  She auditions for the smallest part in her school's production, but is cast as Juliet.  Megan has always considered herself a "Rosaline."  Her seven ex-boyfriends have all found true love right after dating her.  To make matters worse, her last boyfriend left her for her best friend, and now he is her co-star. Complications ensue!  Crushing on a new stagehand, Will, Megan enlists the help of Owen Okita, a new drama kid, who spends much of his time writing lyrics for Will's emo band and  gets her in ways no other boy ever has. But Megan, who can't see that he's obviously her perfect match, struggles to find what she truly wants. Their witty repartee makes this a deliciously fun read.   The husband and wife authors are high school sweethearts who fell in love over a shared love of the bard, which is reflected in this wonderful romantic comedy.

She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah revisits 60s Beatlemania through a story of sixth grader Trudy Mixer, who is a Beatles fanatic and president of her school's fan club.  When the once-popular club dwindles to three members and her best friend joins the future cheerleaders, Trudy is determined to remedy things by going to the Beatles concert in Boston and meeting Paul McCartney.  Her dreams almost come true when her dad buys four concert tickets, but then he is called away on a business trip. She and the other three club members, awkward Peter, uncool Jessica and unkempt Nora, decide to head to Boston on their own.  Riding the train for the first time and attempting to make their way to Suffolk Downs Racetrack where the Beatles play for 25,000 people is fraught with problems, but the teens ultimately are rewarded, learning valuable lessons along the way.  Beatles song titles are used as chapter headings that thematically relate to what's happening in the story.  Having attended a Beatles concert in 1963 in Indianapolis, Indiana when I was thirteen, I relived the emotions riding on actually seeing my heroes, and the joy at being one of the screaming masses as they sang the songs I knew and loved.  This well-written middle school tale not only is a treasure trove of Beatles history, it also explores issues teens of every generation face.